Lead-wool and ground-cork packing



'June 3, 1930.

G. E. sAwYER ET AL 1,761,749 LEAD WOOL AND GROUD CORK PACKING Filed May 1o, 1928 INVENTOR GREGORY BAWYER BY JOHN W 5ml-VH,-

(SQMMW A TTORNE Y.

Patented June 3, 1930 GREGORY E. SAWYER AND JOI-IN SMITH, OF INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS LEAD-WOOL AND GROUND-CORE PACKING Application filed May 10,

Our invention relates to packing for pis-` tons, piston rods, stuiiing boxes, or the like.

In accordance with our invention, Weprovide a packing having a body portion formed of lead wool. This lead wool isvmade up of fine strands of lead, varying considerably in length. The strands of lead have about the cross sectional area of a coarse strand of human hair, more or less. The strands of the lead forming the lead wool are arranged gen-A erally longitudinally, but the strands are somewhat matted. The lead Wool serves to fill in irregularities or rough places inthe moving contacting part, thus producing a smooth contact surface. By virtue of having the lead in fine strands, the lead wool mass possesses some degree of resiliency and will not readily pack or cold weld, into a solid mass. The body of lead wool has arranged therein or distributed therethrough, a mixture of finely ground or granular cork, impregnated with inely ground graphite and oil. The graphite serves as a lubricating medium, and the ground cork produces an expansible medium distributed throughout the body of the lead wool, and this ground cork will cause the entire packing to possess proper resiliency, particularly when the cork is acted upon by moisture and pressure, whereby the packing will automatically expand to compensate for wear.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure 1 is a'plan view of a strip of lead vWool included in the packing,

Figure 2 is an edge elevation of lead wool with the cork and arranged thereon,

Figure 3 shows the strip of lead wool twisted to produce the packing strip, and,

Figure 4 shows the packing strip bent into annular packing.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration, is shown a preferred embodi- 'the strip of graphite layer ment of our invention, the numeral l() desig.

nates a strip of lead wool. This lead wool is made up of line strands of lead, having about the cross sectional area of a strand ofD coarse Serial No. 276,768.

human hair, although this cross sectional area may vary somewhat. The liner the strands are, the more satisfactory are the results, since the lead wool mass will then possess some degree of resiliency, and will not crush or coldv Weld into a solid mass'. The strands of lead wool vary in length and some of them extend throughout the entire length of the strip. These strands are also somewhat matted. These granular or finely ground cork, with. the finely ground graphite, are first soaked in hot lubricating oil, and the mixture is then sprinkled upon the strip of lead wool producing a layer l1, as shown. The next step in producing the packing is to spirally/ twist the strip of lead wool with the layer of ground cork and graphite upon itself. This twistin action serves to distribute the ground cor and graphite throughout the entire mass of the packing. Y

While the ground cork and graphite is arranged generally in a spiral layer, in the finished product, yet a considerable amount of the same becomes distributed throughout the entire mass of the lead wool particularly when the packing is being used. The packing strip produced in Figure'3, by the spiral twisting, is now bent into an annular packing as shown in Figure 4.

l/Vhen the packing is used in a stufling box, to surround a piston rod, for example, the lead wool being soft, is readily cut by irregularities or rough portions of the piston rod, and will fill these irregularities or rough places, producing a smooth surface. The graphite, being distributed with the cork, to a considerable extent, throughout the entire mass of the lead wool, works through the same, due to the action of the piston rod or other movable part and aiords lubrication. The cork saturated with the oil, retains its resiliency, and lends expansibility to the packing, which with the fine strands of the ioo to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes may be resorted to in the formation of the constituents of the packing, and the manner in which they -are combined, without departing from the spirit of our'invention, or the scope of the subjoined claims. A Having thus described our invention, we claim l 1. A packing for a piston rod or the like,

comprising a body portion of lead wool formed of line strands of lead, and inely divided. cork embedded within said lead wool bcdy portion and adapted to expand and irnpart to the lead wool body portion a suitable resiliency. 2. A packing for a piston rod or the like, comprislng a body portion of lead wool formed of nestrands of lead having voids between the same, and granular cork embedded within said lead wool body portion, the grains f cork being arranged within the voids between the strands of the lead wool and such grains being distributed throughout y substantially the entire mass of said body portion, said grains of cork being adapted to eX- pand and to impart to the body portion throu hout its mass a suit-able resilency.

3. packing for a piston rod or the like,

comprising a body portion of lead wool formed of strands of lead having voids between the same, and oil impregnated granular cork embedded. within the lead wool body portion, the grains of cork being arranged within the voids between the strands of the lead Wool, said grains of cork being adapted to expand and to impart to the body portion a suitable resiliency.

, In testimony whereof we aiix our signa.

tures.

GREGORY E. SAWYER. .JOHN W. SMITHT. 

